All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes
| Length = 41:14 | Label = Atco (United States) | Producer = Chris Thomas | Last album = Empty Glass (1980) | This album = All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (1982) | Next album = Scoop (1983) }} All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes is the third official solo album by English rock musician and songwriter Pete Townshend, guitarist for The Who. It was produced by Chris Thomas (who also produced Empty Glass) and was recorded by Bill Price at Eel Pie, A.I.R. and Wessex studios in London, England. The album contains some compositions salvaged from later albums by The Who. Recording and production Along with the 11 songs on the album, further songs were also recorded, including "Body Language" (subsequently released in 1983 on Scoop), a track called "Man Watching" (released as the B-side of "Face Dances, Pt. 2"), and "Dance It Away" (which was also performed in various forms live by the band between 1979 and 1981, usually as a coda to "Dancing in the Street"), and which was released as the B-side of "Uniforms". One further song was listed on the initial LP release; called "Vivienne", this, along with "Man Watching" and "Dance It Away", were released as bonus tracks on the 2006 reissue. Album title Pete Townshend explained the meaning of the strange album title at length in an interview with Rolling Stone: }} On the Listening Time promotional LP, Townshend said he should have won a "Stupid Title of the Year" award for the unusual moniker.Listening Time Promotional LP ATCO SAM150, 1982. Video release A companion video was also released, featuring concept videos set to the musical backings of "Prelude", "Face Dances, Pt. 2", "Communication", "Uniforms", "Stardom in Acton", "Exquisitely Bored", and a re-recorded version of "Slit Skirts", with a harmonica performance on the last song, not used on the studio cut. Chalkie Davis the director (with Carol Starr) of the video said: "It was 1 pm on a Tuesday in 1982 when the phone rang, 'Hi Chalkie, it's Pete (Townshend), there is this thing starting in America, it's called MTV and they want a 30-minute film of me, if you can get to Bill Curbishley's office by 2:30 pm with a script I reckon I can get you the job.' We got the job, we started filming the following Monday and shot for six days, we had two full days and four afternoons with Pete." [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzQIHqv-eX4 yoU2b - Pete Townshend - Chinese Eyes documentary 1982 HD] This video has been out of print for years, though Pete Townshend put the videos up on his website in 2000, which were then subsequently uploaded to other video websites on the Internet. Critical reception | rev2 = Encyclopedia of Popular Music | rev2Score = | rev3 = Rolling Stone | rev3Score = | rev4 = The Village Voice | rev4Score = D+ }} All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes was panned by most music critics upon its release. In a contemporary review for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau found it "pretentious at an unprecedented level of difficulty" and said that Townshend twisted "such long words into such unlikely rhymes and images and marshal arrangements of such intricate meaninglessness." Stereo Review called it an "ambitious failure" and felt that Townshend tends to indulge in his ideas on rock music and life on his songs. In a positive review for Rolling Stone, Jon Pareles called the album "a mess of contradictions", but an exceptional listen because of Townshend's arrangements, which "surge and subside as gracefully as anything in rock; they're neither static nor jolting." In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it the type of album that "taunts cynics and critics, being nearly impenetrable in its content even if the production and the music itself aren't all that inaccessible." Stylus Magazine's Justin Cober-Lake said that the album "might at times be convoluted or over-thought," but "remains affecting and compelling" because of Townshend's sincere lyrics.Stylus Magazine review Track listing All songs written by Pete Townshend, except where noted. Personnel *Pete Townshend - vocals, guitars and keyboards (Prophet 5–10 Synthesizer, Arp 2500 and Synclavier) *Virginia Astley - piano *Tony Butler - bass *Peter Hope-Evans - harmonica *Mark Brzezicki (as Mark Brrrescekkiagghh) - drums *Simon Phillips - drums *Jody Linscott - percussion *Chris Stainton - additional keyboards *Poli Palmer - tuned percussion *John Lewis - Fairlight CMI synthesizer programmes *Ann Odell - brass arrangement on "The Sea Refuses No River" ;Technical *Bill Price - recording *Carol Starr, Chalkie Davis - photography Charts ;Album References Category:1982 albums Category:Pete Townshend albums Category:Albums produced by Chris Thomas (record producer) Category:Atco Records albums Category:English-language albums